176 visa lodged March 2012

[Indikaya]

Hey folks, It's been a while. Sorry I couldn't catch up with you lately. I landed here in Perth on last 18th. Still staying at a friend's place. Everything is freaking expensive. I was quite amazed after knowing the internet & call charges. The area looks fine but obviously not that much great as I expected. One thing is certain, have to find a job soon to survive in this land.:arghh:

Applied for my TFN, Opened a bank account with CB, Applied for Medicare & even registered my self with WA government. The only thing left is obtaining a driver's license. Everything cost a lot of money here.

Anyway this was my dream few days, weeks, months & of cause years back. So gonna live my dream from now onwards. It seems i have to keep my fingers crossed as we all did after lodging the visa application.

Good luck to all who have landed here & on the job hunt. And good luck to the ones who have lodged their applications.

Finally, as I noticed, I can guarantee, if you have a good job in Australia, your life would be superb. Definitely the transitional period would be soo hard. All the best to everyone.

 

I will keep you posted about my adventures from now onwards. Would love to meet the march gang here in Perth.

[leanie]

Hey folks, It's been a while. Sorry I couldn't catch up with you lately. I landed here in Perth on last 18th. Still staying at a friend's place. Everything is freaking expensive. I was quite amazed after knowing the internet & call charges. The area looks fine but obviously not that much great as I expected. One thing is certain, have to find a job soon to survive in this land.:arghh:

Applied for my TFN, Opened a bank account with CB, Applied for Medicare & even registered my self with WA government. The only thing left is obtaining a driver's license. Everything cost a lot of money here.

Anyway this was my dream few days, weeks, months & of cause years back. So gonna live my dream from now onwards. It seems i have to keep my fingers crossed as we all did after lodging the visa application.

Good luck to all who have landed here & on the job hunt. And good luck to the ones who have lodged their applications.

Finally, as I noticed, I can guarantee, if you have a good job in Australia, your life would be superb. Definitely the transitional period would be soo hard. All the best to everyone.

 

I will keep you posted about my adventures from now onwards. Would love to meet the march gang here in Perth.

 

Welcome to WA Indikaya! You're right it is pretty pricey for most things, but as you say once you are working and earning the aussie dollar most people get by pretty good. Good luck with the rest of the settling in process and I hope you get a job when you are ready with ease. You'll get the "wow" experiences lots here I'm sure. My best one so far was seeing heaps of wild dolphins swimming close to shore the other day. I could have watched them for hours! Whats your plan are you going to stay in Perth?

 

We are still trying to find a rental. It is not easy. 5 applications in, we have viewed about 12 and have 2 other applications to hand in but not really keen on either - one literally had a sandpit as a lawn and was very top of our budget, it was very far from town too; the other had not a single curtain or blind! Hopefully some good news for us on the rental side soon though and will keep looking and going to those awesome open homes! Tomorrow there is none though... phew.

[Indikaya]

Welcome to WA Indikaya! You're right it is pretty pricey for most things, but as you say once you are working and earning the aussie dollar most people get by pretty good. Good luck with the rest of the settling in process and I hope you get a job when you are ready with ease. You'll get the "wow" experiences lots here I'm sure. My best one so far was seeing heaps of wild dolphins swimming close to shore the other day. I could have watched them for hours! Whats your plan are you going to stay in Perth?

 

We are still trying to find a rental. It is not easy. 5 applications in, we have viewed about 12 and have 2 other applications to hand in but not really keen on either - one literally had a sandpit as a lawn and was very top of our budget, it was very far from town too; the other had not a single curtain or blind! Hopefully some good news for us on the rental side soon though and will keep looking and going to those awesome open homes! Tomorrow there is none though... phew.

 

Yeah, I also heard that finding a good rental is hard. I haven't tried it yet though. Yep, my plan is to look for jobs in Perth first & try to secure a one as soon as possible. As I heard, they consider Australia experience quite a lot. So after working for couple of months, may be I can apply for a more settled job.

Good luck with your rental finding. I'm gonna look for obtaining driver's license.

[pradiprn]

Yeah, I also heard that finding a good rental is hard. I haven't tried it yet though. Yep, my plan is to look for jobs in Perth first & try to secure a one as soon as possible. As I heard, they consider Australia experience quite a lot. So after working for couple of months, may be I can apply for a more settled job.

Good luck with your rental finding. I'm gonna look for obtaining driver's license.

 

I think in your field they may still consider external experience if it is relevant to work here. if the telecom technologies you have worked on are similar to those in Australia you stand a chance.

apply everywhere that you see your role fits. make sure you speak with consultants and request for a personal meeting. Dont worry about the rental too much. figure out your budget and where and then move ahead

[leanie]

We are still looking for a rental. A series of rejections for us. It is not easy :em4600:

 

I figure it is mainly down to the fact that there is a huge shortage at the moment so the landlords can afford to be very picky (40 odd at each open home), and more personally for us I think because we have dogs. I want to run for the hills! We are already searching quite a large area and am wondering if we should make it even larger!

 

A tip to anyone looking for a rental, when you write your previous addresses and references make sure you include an email address if you have written an international number - most real estate agents will not call overseas.

 

I continue the soul destroying mission of finding somewhere to live. The hardest part for me is explaining it to my 4 year old, she can't understand it, neither can I. Hopefully good news soon though, just need to fill in heaps more applications eh.

 

Indikaya I hope you find a job soon.

[Indikaya]

I applied for a lot of jobs. But still not even a single call. The other day, I found one job which matches my qualifications 100%. But when I call the agent, his response was, he cannot recommend me to the client (company) as I don't have Perth based experience. I'm quite freaking out here.

Now i'm gonna apply for jobs all over Aus. We'll see.

 

I'm really sorry for you Leanie. Some of my frends also still struggling to find a one. Life is soooo tough to start off here.

[smithinoz]

So sorry to hear you guys are finding things quite tough. There are quite a few of us flying out in September, and I must admit this worries me a little. When you look on seek there are sooooo many jobs available, it seems crazy.

 

On a positive note, any of the Perth peeps met up yet? X

[pradiprn]

So sorry to hear you guys are finding things quite tough. There are quite a few of us flying out in September, and I must admit this worries me a little. When you look on seek there are sooooo many jobs available, it seems crazy.

 

On a positive note, any of the Perth peeps met up yet? X

 

Hey no meet ups yet since currently it's only Leanie me and now indikaya here. I guess once we have more of you lot here we can plan one

 

@indi you need to stop freaking out man. I have been here two months now and I haven't fond a job. Go back to the consultant who said no and request for a personal meeting. Research companies and apply directly. Sometimes consultants are just plain lousy gatekeepers. So dont give up just yet.

[Indikaya]

Hey no meet ups yet since currently it's only Leanie me and now indikaya here. I guess once we have more of you lot here we can plan one @indi you need to stop freaking out man. I have been here two months now and I haven't fond a job. Go back to the consultant who said no and request for a personal meeting. Research companies and apply directly. Sometimes consultants are just plain lousy gatekeepers. So dont give up just yet.

 

Thanks for the encouraging words. Yep, I'm doing that now. Not gonna let any consultant go easy. Anyway it's a universal truth that all most all the migrants find it hard to settle in initially. But once they settled in after a couple of months, things are pretty steady & far more better.

I'm counting my days till that happens. Let's pray together.......!!!

[leanie]

Hey everyone, a few days since my last post and I have good news - we have a rental :biglaugh:I am sooooooooo pleased. We had just had 3 rejections in a row, and a private landlord who seemed to be very money hungry (plus house was not in the best of areas), and we were offered the house which was one we were very keen on. Right next to a primary school which will have a place for my eldest next year (not now sadly but we'll travel to find her one until then). Can't wait to move in. Funny thing is yesterday we were offered the last on our list too! We said no as we had already paid the first weeks rent on the other place.

 

My tips for finding a rental are: have a cover letter saying what great tenants you would be and explain your situation especially if you previously owned a house, include a pet cv if you have a pet - explain what exercise you give your pet, how often they are home alone, what training they have had etc (applies for dogs sorry cat owners!), i really hate to say this as in some states i have been told it is not allowed, but if you offer more than the rent per week (if the place is worth it of course), then you are in with a really good chance - this is the case with the 2nd property we were offered. some of these suggestions i got from pradiprn so thanks very much to him for those. it is a stressful experience looking but its worth it in the end - go to as many open homes as you can and apply for as many as possible that would work for you. you will find something but allow a few weeks i reckon.

 

i hope pradiprn and indikaya both find work soon. i do not see why you should need local experience to apply. my OH got an email yesterday about a job he applied for in early July - an interview! They are very slow about permanent positions here, to take 3 months to get told about an interview is ridiculous! But then for all I know 3000 people may have applied! All I know is that there are lots of jobs for nursing if anyone reading this is a nurse. You are pretty much guaranteed a job.

 

We got a 2nd car today as our landcruiser is not so economical for my OH to drive 100s kms to work each week, he got a little barina. So now I have wheels every day :cute:This means i can take my eldest to kindy across town, and commit to things like swimming lessons for my kids etc, something we could not do before with just the one car and unpredictable hours. I survived Ikea yesterday with 2 kids on my own, they do not make it easy for you! I hope you are all having a good weekend :animal-bat:

[pradiprn]

Hey everyone, a few days since my last post and I have good news - we have a rental :biglaugh:I am sooooooooo pleased. We had just had 3 rejections in a row, and a private landlord who seemed to be very money hungry (plus house was not in the best of areas), and we were offered the house which was one we were very keen on. Right next to a primary school which will have a place for my eldest next year (not now sadly but we'll travel to find her one until then). Can't wait to move in. Funny thing is yesterday we were offered the last on our list too! We said no as we had already paid the first weeks rent on the other place.

 

My tips for finding a rental are: have a cover letter saying what great tenants you would be and explain your situation especially if you previously owned a house, include a pet cv if you have a pet - explain what exercise you give your pet, how often they are home alone, what training they have had etc (applies for dogs sorry cat owners!), i really hate to say this as in some states i have been told it is not allowed, but if you offer more than the rent per week (if the place is worth it of course), then you are in with a really good chance - this is the case with the 2nd property we were offered. some of these suggestions i got from pradiprn so thanks very much to him for those. it is a stressful experience looking but its worth it in the end - go to as many open homes as you can and apply for as many as possible that would work for you. you will find something but allow a few weeks i reckon.

 

i hope pradiprn and indikaya both find work soon. i do not see why you should need local experience to apply. my OH got an email yesterday about a job he applied for in early July - an interview! They are very slow about permanent positions here, to take 3 months to get told about an interview is ridiculous! But then for all I know 3000 people may have applied! All I know is that there are lots of jobs for nursing if anyone reading this is a nurse. You are pretty much guaranteed a job.

 

We got a 2nd car today as our landcruiser is not so economical for my OH to drive 100s kms to work each week, he got a little barina. So now I have wheels every day :cute:This means i can take my eldest to kindy across town, and commit to things like swimming lessons for my kids etc, something we could not do before with just the one car and unpredictable hours. I survived Ikea yesterday with 2 kids on my own, they do not make it easy for you! I hope you are all having a good weekend :animal-bat:

 

Congratulations Leanie! glad I could help.

 

So things are falling in place and that is good news. Now we need to plan that meetup when everyone finally makes it here. speaking of which ToOZ has disappeared. I wonder how his plans are coming along.

 

And I hope things work out soon for Nishi as well. Its been a long long wait

[Nishi]

And I hope things work out soon for Nishi as well. Its been a long long wait

 

No luck for me yet

[Indikaya]

Hey everyone, a few days since my last post and I have good news - we have a rental :biglaugh:

 

 

Hey Congratulations Leanie. Now you must be breathing easily.

[leanie]

Hey Congratulations Leanie. Now you must be breathing easily.

 

Thanks Indikaya, sure am. Now onto my next hurdle - Telstra!!! I phoned them today to set up phone and broadband for our new house, the maximum data they would give me is 5GB and all international calls barred (I had applied for 50gb). I must commit to this for a 24 month contract but should be able to increase the amount of data in a couple of months (but could be up to 6 months). All of this because we don't have sufficient credit. I have the number for the complaints department to see if I can get them to budge, wish me luck! In the meantime I have been checking out other plans its just committing to 2 years that I don't like. Stormy weather here.

 

Sorry to hear you are still waiting Nishi. Did you get all of the extra information together to send to your CO? I hope good news comes your way very soon.

[Nishi]

Thanks Indikaya, sure am. Now onto my next hurdle - Telstra!!! I phoned them today to set up phone and broadband for our new house, the maximum data they would give me is 5GB and all international calls barred (I had applied for 50gb). I must commit to this for a 24 month contract but should be able to increase the amount of data in a couple of months (but could be up to 6 months). All of this because we don't have sufficient credit. I have the number for the complaints department to see if I can get them to budge, wish me luck! In the meantime I have been checking out other plans its just committing to 2 years that I don't like. Stormy weather here.

 

Sorry to hear you are still waiting Nishi. Did you get all of the extra information together to send to your CO? I hope good news comes your way very soon.

 

Well we are with Optus and they give us 120gb per month plus $30 talk time free on a 67$ plan per month. So it includes basic home phone and broadband. For international calls there are various prepaid cards available (like libara, lyca etc).

 

And yea I've sent off all the evidence I could gather couple of weeks ago and now this long wait. :daydreaming:

[smithinoz]

Congratulations Leanie! glad I could help.

 

So things are falling in place and that is good news. Now we need to plan that meetup when everyone finally makes it here. speaking of which ToOZ has disappeared. I wonder how his plans are coming along.

 

And I hope things work out soon for Nishi as well. Its been a long long wait

 

Any news on the job front yet? :wubclub:

[leanie]

Well we are with Optus and they give us 120gb per month plus $30 talk time free on a 67$ plan per month. So it includes basic home phone and broadband. For international calls there are various prepaid cards available (like libara, lyca etc).

 

And yea I've sent off all the evidence I could gather couple of weeks ago and now this long wait. :daydreaming:

 

Nishi I'm glad you got all the extra evidence together, now the anxious wait. Stay strong and hopeful )

 

I would have liked to have gone with Optus but they don't service this area, they could only offer me mobile broadband (which I already have through Virgin and its bad). I phoned the complaints line but it seems they don't have the power within telstra - its all down to the credit department i think. She said she could escalate it but they wouldn't know for 24 hours. I decided in the end to go for just a landline with them and will get my broadband elsewhere. Maybe build up a credit history with telstra and in the future we can get broadband from them. a hassle. they said we would get declined for their foxtel deal too so i called foxtel direct to get a so so deal. problem with this is the people currently in our rental (due to move out in a few days) have not cancelled their service, so we now have to fax a copy of our lease to foxtel before we can have foxtel. Grrrr... We sign the lease next week though. Makes me now realise how efficient vodafone and virgin were when we got their services! A shame they don't work so well.

 

Crazy storm south of Perth is continuing, I'm crossing my fingers no trees fall on my house/car/dogs/family! I would hate to be in a plane today!

 

Tooz where are you???

[jamescool]

hey Nishi, don't worry everything will be ok and we will celebrate.

hello pals, i got one question hope someone out there can help me. as i have been granted 176 WA SS, i need to stay in WA for 2 years. however a friend of mine says that as i got visa for 5 years, i can stay in WA during the last 2 years, i.e. i got visa till 2017, so till 2015 i go and live in other states and from 2015 to 2017 i live in WA. But as far as i understand, i need to stay in WA in the beginning.

[leanie]

hey Nishi, don't worry everything will be ok and we will celebrate.

hello pals, i got one question hope someone out there can help me. as i have been granted 176 WA SS, i need to stay in WA for 2 years. however a friend of mine says that as i got visa for 5 years, i can stay in WA during the last 2 years, i.e. i got visa till 2017, so till 2015 i go and live in other states and from 2015 to 2017 i live in WA. But as far as i understand, i need to stay in WA in the beginning.

 

I was under the understanding that you had to stay in your nominated state for the first 2 years and then you are free to go wherever you want. After 5 years in Aus you can get citizenship or apply for a RRV.

[Killara]

as i have been granted 176 WA SS, i need to stay in WA for 2 years. however a friend of mine says that as i got visa for 5 years, i can stay in WA during the last 2 years, i.e. i got visa till 2017, so till 2015 i go and live in other states and from 2015 to 2017 i live in WA. But as far as i understand, i need to stay in WA in the beginning.

I was under the understanding that you had to stay in your nominated state for the first 2 years and then you are free to go wherever you want.

Jamescool, your and leanie’s understanding is correct. For the 176 visa, it is expected that you will spend at least the first two years in the State which sponsored you. The States do not sponsor people just so that at the tail end of someone’s 5-year PR visa, the person might return to the sponsoring State to honour the commitment which they signed up to when they applied for SS and the 176 Visa.

Having said that, there is no legal restriction on you doing so. The 176 visa issued by the federal government does not contain any condition stating that you must spend the first (or any) two years in the State which sponsored you. As has been pointed out on these forums, the obligation is more of a moral obligation rather than a legal one. I suspect that someone who goes other than to their sponsoring state upon arrival in Australia and spends the first 3 years other than in the sponsoring state and sets up their new life for themselves there, would find it very difficult to then move from that after the 3 years and go to their original sponsoring State to fulfil their 2-year commitment to that State.

 

..After 5 years in Aus you can get citizenship or apply for a RRV.

After 4 years of residence in Australia with a minimum period of the previous 12 months as permanent resident, it is possible to apply for Australian citizenship – so previous periods of temporary residence immediately before permanent residence will also count towards meeting the required period of residence in Australia. Any Days spent outside of Australia during the relevant period does not count towards the four years, and there are certain restrictions in terms of maximum length of absence from during the previous 12 months prior to the citizenship application. For example, in my case: I arrived in Australia in January 2011, PR in May 2012, 175 Visa to May 2017 – if I stayed continuously in Australia from now, I could apply for citizenship in February 2015 (have had a few weeks out of Australia), but it is more likely to be around April/May 2015, as I am sure I will take more holidays out of Australia over the next few years. Alternatively, if citizenship is not applied for, when 175/176 Visa expires, as leanie says, it is possible to apply for a RRV.

 

Finally, Nishi, I am sorry to hear that you have not had your good news yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that you will get your good news soon. I logged on today to hopefully see your good news. Sorry that it hasn't been here yet.. but I'm sure you will get it soon. Best wishes.

[leanie]

Jamescool, your and leanie’s understanding is correct. For the 176 visa, it is expected that you will spend at least the first two years in the State which sponsored you. The States do not sponsor people just so that at the tail end of someone’s 5-year PR visa, the person might return to the sponsoring State to honour the commitment which they signed up to when they applied for SS and the 176 Visa.

Having said that, there is no legal restriction on you doing so. The 176 visa issued by the federal government does not contain any condition stating that you must spend the first (or any) two years in the State which sponsored you. As has been pointed out on these forums, the obligation is more of a moral obligation rather than a legal one. I suspect that someone who goes other than to their sponsoring state upon arrival in Australia and spends the first 3 years other than in the sponsoring state and sets up their new life for themselves there, would find it very difficult to then move from that after the 3 years and go to their original sponsoring State to fulfil their 2-year commitment to that State.

 

 

After 4 years of residence in Australia with a minimum period of the previous 12 months as permanent resident, it is possible to apply for Australian citizenship – so previous periods of temporary residence immediately before permanent residence will also count towards meeting the required period of residence in Australia. Any Days spent outside of Australia during the relevant period does not count towards the four years, and there are certain restrictions in terms of maximum length of absence from during the previous 12 months prior to the citizenship application. For example, in my case: I arrived in Australia in January 2011, PR in May 2012, 175 Visa to May 2017 – if I stayed continuously in Australia from now, I could apply for citizenship in February 2015 (have had a few weeks out of Australia), but it is more likely to be around April/May 2015, as I am sure I will take more holidays out of Australia over the next few years. Alternatively, if citizenship is not applied for, when 175/176 Visa expires, as leanie says, it is possible to apply for a RRV.

 

Finally, Nishi, I am sorry to hear that you have not had your good news yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that you will get your good news soon. I logged on today to hopefully see your good news. Sorry that it hasn't been here yet.. but I'm sure you will get it soon. Best wishes.

 

Hey Killara, how are you getting on? I do wonder with the 176 if you didn't stay in your nominated state if there would be any repercussions further down the line. Maybe fair enough if you go to your nominated state and you never end up finding work and are forced to move etc, but if you never intended to actually go there and it was just a way to get the permanent visa surely you could get into trouble?

 

So its only 4 years to get citizenship? And they count all your time on a temporary visa? That is so good. I was in NZ for 8 years almost solid but I never got citizenship as they count 5 years from day 1 when you get permanent residence. I would have been there for nearly 10 year by the time I would have been granted it! A bit easier in Australia thank goodness. I look forward to getting citizenship one day here I expect.

 

Another pod of dolphins could be sighted from the beach where I was yesterday, WA rocks.

[leanie]

into our first rental now and its so good to have our stuff out of storage and to finally make ourselves at home. telstra line connected on the friday, internet sunday morning, and foxtel ordered on thursday and it arrived on friday too. 29 degrees today, loving it.

[toOZ2012]

Hi peeps,

 

How's everyone doing? Good to hear that people are settling in.

 

Sorry for the disappearing act, have been insanely busy the last 2 months.

 

After my last job offer fell through cuz they didn't want to wait 2 months, I was offered another in the same company (talk about fate) but with the condition that I start straight away so I landed here on Thursday(this time for good). Will start work from Wednesday.

 

Got my TFN, medicare and applied for drivers license. Have to check that WA registration thing (I haven't received any e-mails, though).

 

Bought a Camry from a friend. Visited a few places in and around the city. Pinnacles in the north and Busselton in the south. Always wanted to try skydiving so just went for it and it was freakin awesome. My road-tour around Australia is on hold for now, probably have to try again sometime mid of next year.

 

The weather seems to have gotten a bit hotter since my last visit. Friends tell me that it'll be scorching hot in the summer.

 

How's everyone doing?

[smithinoz]

Hi peeps,

 

How's everyone doing? Good to hear that people are settling in.

 

Sorry for the disappearing act, have been insanely busy the last 2 months.

 

After my last job offer fell through cuz they didn't want to wait 2 months, I was offered another in the same company (talk about fate) but with the condition that I start straight away so I landed here on Thursday(this time for good). Will start work from Wednesday.

 

Got my TFN, medicare and applied for drivers license. Have to check that WA registration thing (I haven't received any e-mails, though).

 

Bought a Camry from a friend. Visited a few places in and around the city. Pinnacles in the north and Busselton in the south. Always wanted to try skydiving so just went for it and it was freakin awesome. My road-tour around Australia is on hold for now, probably have to try again sometime mid of next year.

 

The weather seems to have gotten a bit hotter since my last visit. Friends tell me that it'll be scorching hot in the summer.

 

How's everyone doing?

 

Long time no see.......

 

Glad things seem to be working out for you. We fly out on the 29th - cant wait!

[leanie]

Hi peeps,

 

How's everyone doing? Good to hear that people are settling in.

 

Sorry for the disappearing act, have been insanely busy the last 2 months.

 

After my last job offer fell through cuz they didn't want to wait 2 months, I was offered another in the same company (talk about fate) but with the condition that I start straight away so I landed here on Thursday(this time for good). Will start work from Wednesday.

 

Got my TFN, medicare and applied for drivers license. Have to check that WA registration thing (I haven't received any e-mails, though).

 

Bought a Camry from a friend. Visited a few places in and around the city. Pinnacles in the north and Busselton in the south. Always wanted to try skydiving so just went for it and it was freakin awesome. My road-tour around Australia is on hold for now, probably have to try again sometime mid of next year.

 

The weather seems to have gotten a bit hotter since my last visit. Friends tell me that it'll be scorching hot in the summer.

 

How's everyone doing?

 

hey tooz, i was wondering what happened to you. welcome back to wa and i hope you are enjoying the warmer days. have you found somewhere to live yet? if so what suburb are you calling home? the wa registration thing they don't ask you to do but its on their website that you must do it. you just go in with your passport and the original offer letter (or just the reference number associated with it). takes about 5mins and is in town. you got your tfn already? no idea why mine took over a month!

 

smithinoz are you excited?